THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board stated on Sunday that it had taken action against certain officials who instructed a Muslim candidate to remove her hijab.
The woman who took her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination at the Bafuto Institute, Ile-Iwe Bus Stop, Ejigbo, Lagos, was reportedly asked to take off her head covering during the accreditation process before entering the examination hall.
In a statement signed by the Head of Public Affairs, Dr Fabian Benjamin, JAMB addressed the issue, expressing deep regret for the incident. The board added that its investigation found that the incident, along with previous ones, did not align with its examination guidelines, and instead resulted from the inappropriate actions of some accredited partners.
The PUNCH JAMB's guidelines for accreditation require screening of all candidates and mandate that only female officials screen female candidates before granting them entry to the examination hall.
“A senior board official at the center immediately addressed this issue, and the candidate was admitted after the customary checks with her hijab.
“However, as ignorance of the law is unacceptable, the officials have been appropriately disciplined to deter others from similar actions in the future.
“It’s worth noting that the board, as a national institution, has no policy prohibiting candidates from wearing religious attire relevant to their faith, as these are everyday realities in Nigeria that everyone should be familiar with by now,” JAMB stated in the announcement.
JAMB assured the public that the matter would be thoroughly investigated, as they have done with past incidents, to prevent a recurrence.
“The board is dedicated to fulfilling its duty of ensuring that suitably qualified candidates are chosen for admission into the nation’s tertiary institutions, and will not allow anything or anyone to detract from this noble goal,” it said.
Meanwhile, the 2024 UTME, which began on Friday, April 19, 2024, has been plagued by reports of technical issues, as over 1.2 million candidates are expected to have completed the examination by Monday, April 22, 2024.
